Walmart, Target neck and neck in SN Price Check

Walmart and Target had the least expensive baskets, respectively, in SN Price Check surveys conducted the weeks of Dec. 30 and Jan. 13, at a Walmart, Target, Vons and Ralphs in Los Angeles, according to international price and promotions analytics company Brand View, and RetailData, whose representatives collected the pricing information and scored stores on appearance and ease of shopping.
This is the first report in an ongoing series of price and service checks conducted in different U.S. ...

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Discuss this Article 4

Price ZONES (not verified)

on Feb 5, 2014

Julie, Be very careful which Walmart or Target is shopped. Many have wide pricing differentials depending which zone you are in. For instance, this week a 42 oz container of Great Value quick oats was $2.19 at a city Walmart, and the identical product was $3.48 at a suburban WM about 15 miles away. Demographics and competition are very important!

Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you raised this topic because pricing by zone was something we gave very careful consideration to when forming SN Price Check. We recognize that prices can fluctuate greatly from one location or zone to another. With this in mind, we carefully selected the stores for the price comparison. We wanted to ensure all stores were situated within the same neighborhood, and therefore were all feasible choices for shoppers living in the vicinity. All four stores are located within a radius of 4 miles. The Target and Walmart stores are only separated by 3 miles.

We recognize that reporting on pricing within a different neighborhood or area could result in different pricing across all four banners. Our aim was to provide a fair like-for-like comparison between 4 banners located in the same area and report on an actual, rather than an average, price for each item. It is not our intention to imply that all stores of the same banner would have the same pricing across the entire city or state. In future editions, we will be rotating the cities, regions and banners we report on, but all stores will always be in close proximity to one another.

Julie, The city Walmart store is in South Philadelphia, nearby Aldi, ShopRite and Target; while the King of Prussia WM is across from Wegmans, and near Acme and Giant/Carlisle! (Demographics and legitimate competition most likely play a large part in price points.) Thanks bc